PDF-(READ)-Doing the Impossible: George E. Mueller & the Management of NASA\'s Human Spaceflight

Apollo was known for its engineering triumphs but its success also came from a disciplined management style This excellent account of one of the most important personalities in early American human spaceflight history describes for the first time how George E Mueller the system manager of the human spaceflight program of the 1960s applied the SPO methodology and other special considerations such as alluptesting resulting in the success of the Apollo Program Wernher von Braun and others did not readily accept such testing or Muellers approach to system management but later acknowledged that without them NASA would not have landed astronauts on the Moon by 1969 While Apollo remained Muellers priority from his earliest days at the agency he promoted a robust postApollo Program which resulted in Skylab the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station As a result of these efforts Mueller earned the sobriquet the father of the space shuttle Following his success at NASA Mueller returned to industry Although he did not play a leading role in human spaceflight again in 2011 the National Air and Space Museum awarded him their lifetime achievement trophy for his contributionsFollowing the contributions of George E Mueller in this unique book Arthur L Slotkin answers such questions as exactly how did the methods developed for use in the Air Force ballistic missile programs get modified and used in the Apollo Program How did George E Mueller with the help of others manage the Apollo Program How did NASA centers coming from federal agencies with cultures of their own adapt to the new structured approach imposed from WashingtonGeorge E Mueller is the ideal central character for this book He was instrumental in the creation of Apollo extension systems leading to Apollo the Shuttle and todays ISS and thus was a pivotal figure in early American human spaceflight history. . Rationales . and Approaches for a . U.S. . Program of . Human . Space Exploration. Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. . Jonathan I. Lunine. . Co-chairs. Committee on Human Spaceflight. “. The United States has publicly funded its human spaceflight program on a continuous basis for more than a half-century. Today the U.S. is the major partner in a massive orbital facility—the International Space . This first account of commercial spaceflight s most successful venture describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed SpaceX at the forefront of the launch industry and made it the most likely candidate for transporting humans to Mars. Since its inception in 2002, SpaceX has sought to change the space launch paradigm by developing a family of launch vehicles that will ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access tenfold. Coupled with the newly emerging market for governmental, private, and commercial space transport, this new model will re-ignite humanity\'s efforts to explore and develop space. Formed in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, SpaceX has already developed two state-of-the-art new launch vehicles, established an impressive launch manifest, and been awarded COTS funding by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the ISS. This book describes how simplicity, low-cost, and reliability can go hand in hand, as promoted in the philosophy of SpaceX. It explains how, by eliminating the traditional layers of internal management and external sub-contractors and keeping the vast majority of manufacturing in house, SpaceX reduces its costs while accelerating decision making and delivery, controls quality, and ensures constant liaison between the design and manufacturing teams. \"
Come Fly with Us is the story of an elite group of space travelers who flew as members of many space shuttle crews from pre-Challenger days to Columbia in 2003. Not part of the regular NASA astronaut corps, these professionals known as “payload specialists” came from a wide variety of backgrounds and were chosen for an equally wide variety of scientific, political, and national security reasons. Melvin Croft and John Youskauskas focus on this special fraternity of spacefarers and their individual reflections on living and working in space. Relatively unknown to the public and often flying only single missions, these payload specialists give the reader an unusual perspective on the experience of human spaceflight. The authors also bring to light NASA’s struggle to integrate the wide-ranging personalities and professions of these men and women into the professional astronaut ranks. While Come Fly with Us relates the experiences of the payload specialists up to and including the Challenger tragedy, the authors also detail the later high-profile flights of a select few, including Barbara Morgan, John Glenn (who returned to space at the age of seventy-seven), and Ilan Ramon of Israel aboard Columbia on its final, fatal flight, STS-107.  
\" Lunar Outpost provides a detailed account of the various technologies, mission architectures, medical requirements and training needed to return humans to the Moon within the next decade. It focuses on the means by which a lunar outpost will be constructed and also addresses major topics such as the cost of the enterprise and the roles played by private companies and individual countries. The return of humans to the surface of the Moon will be critical to the exploration of the solar system. The various missions are not only in pursuit of scientific knowledge, but also looking to extend human civilization, economic expansion, and public engagement beyond Earth. As well as NASA, China\'s Project 921, Japan\'s Aerospace Exploration Agency, Russia, and the European Space Agency are all planning manned missions to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars. The Ares-I and Ares-V are the biggest rockets since the Saturn V and there is much state-of-the-art technology incorporated into the design of Orion, the spacecraft that will carry a crew of four astronauts to the Moon. Lunar Outpost also describes the human factors, communications, exploration activities, and life support constraints of the missions. This unique book tells the story of the Space Shuttle from its many different roles as orbital launch platform orbital workshop and science and technology laboratory. It is exclusively focused on the technology designed and developed to support the missions of the Space Shuttle program. Each mission is cataloged and detailed in turn, together with technical and managerial issues relating to each one. Although outwardly identical, the capabilities of the orbiters in the late years of the program were quite different from those in 1981. Davide Sivolella traces the various improvements and modifications made to the shuttle over the years as part of each mission story. Thus a discussion of the Extended Duration Orbiter forms part of the STS-50 story, the need for an orbiter to replace Challenger features in the section on STS-49, and a review of the new glass cockpit comes under STS-101. 1. Technically accurate with a narrative style and simple explanations of difficult engineering concepts, it provides details of less-known concepts developed but never flown and commemorates the ingenuity of NASA and its partners in making each Space Shuttle mission a success by pushing the boundaries of what we can accomplish in space. This general, popular science book focuses on recounting the adventures of each of the missions through technical esoterica, press kits, original documents, newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs and interviews. This will therefore be the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the shuttle\'s many missions available and will refocus interest on a quite remarkable flying machine and space program that often is kept in the background. In this latest Pioneers in Early Spaceflight book, the astronaut NASA selections of the late 1960s evolved from two very different requirements. The first by NASA was to prepare crewmembers for an expected increase in flights after the first lunar landings, and the second was by the USAF to prepare crewmembers for a proposed military space station. Though both requirements were to change by the late 1960s, both selections were to provide key support and direct involvement during the transition from Apollo to shuttle and in leading managerial positions during the 1990s. These selections, as a group, have been overlooked in accounts of early space explorer involvement in pioneering programs of the first 50 years of human spaceflight exploration. This book addresses that oversight and presents an informative and in-depth account of their involvement in the space program. The background explains why these men were selected at a time of significant change at both NASA and the USAF. By blending both the NASA selection in 1966 and the three MOL groups and their transition to NASA in 1969 it is possible to get perspective on these changes as well as provide a comparison with the Soviet program, which after losing the Moon landing opted for space station development of a scientific and military nature. The findings are supported with research and interviews by both authors over many years, as well as with NASA original documentation. Contemporary accounts and first-hand interviews with many of the participants offers a fresh and unique approach to recording the 30-year story of these astronauts and how their involvement extended from the pioneering years of Gemini to the forward-looking creation of the International Space Station. This book offers a completion to the story of the first American astronaut selections, complementing not only the books on the first three NASA groups by Colin Burgess but also the book on the two scientist astronaut group selections by both authors, and other titles in the Praxis/Springer space library. Creating spacesuits is an ongoing challenge that has spanned over four decades. This book details the evolution of U. S. spacesuits from their roots in high altitude aviation and vacuum tube development to the present day, with a glimpse into the future. This accessible book offers an imaginative journey through the Universe in search of water, founded on the latest science. The author begins by re-introducing the molecule H2O, its physical and chemical characteristics, its cosmic formation and abundance. The book goes on to describe methods by which the presence of water is detected, within the solar system and beyond. The book explores the presence and absence of water in the bodies of the Solar System: in the giant planets, with their rings and satellites, in comets, asteroids and in the terrestrial planets. The author explains how small differences in temperature cause water to exist in different states on different planets - vapour on Venus, liquid on Earth and solid ice on Mars - leading to divergence in the evolutionary paths of the three planets. The book concludes with a look at the important role played by water in studies of habitable exoplanets. Lunar Outpost provides a detailed account of the various technologies, mission architectures, medical requirements and training needed to return humans to the Moon within the next decade. It focuses on the means by which a lunar outpost will be constructed and also addresses major topics such as the cost of the enterprise and the roles played by private companies and individual countries. The return of humans to the surface of the Moon will be critical to the exploration of the solar system. The various missions are not only in pursuit of scientific knowledge, but also looking to extend human civilization, economic expansion, and public engagement beyond Earth. As well as NASA, China\'s Project 921, Japan\'s Aerospace Exploration Agency, Russia, and the European Space Agency are all planning manned missions to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars. The Ares-I and Ares-V are the biggest rockets since the Saturn V and there is much state-of-the-art technology incorporated into the design of Orion, the spacecraft that will carry a crew of four astronauts to the Moon. Lunar Outpost also describes the human factors, communications, exploration activities, and life support constraints of the missions. On 25 May 1961, John F Kennedy announced the goal of landing an American man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This challenge forced NASA to review the planned lunar landing of a three-man spaceship named Apollo in the mid-1970s. In 1962, it was decided that a specialized vehicle would accompany the main spacecraft, to make the lunar landing while the mothership remained in lunar orbit. To send these vehicles to the Moon would require the development of an enormous rocket. Development was protracted, but in December 1968 Apollo 8 was launched on a pioneering mission to perform an initial reconnaissance in lunar orbit. When Apollo 17 lifted off from the Moon in December 1972, the program was concluded. Now, at long last, there is a real prospect of a resumption of human exploration of the Moon.This book provides an overview of the origins of the Apollo program and descriptions of the ground facilities, launch vehicles and spacecraft that will serve as an invaluable single-volume \'sourcebook\' for space enthusiasts, space historians, journalists, and programme-makers on radio/TV. It supplements other books that have focused on the politics and management of the Apollo program, the astronauts, and their training and exploits. Apollo was known for its engineering triumphs, but its success also came from a disciplined management style. This excellent account of one of the most important personalities in early American human spaceflight history describes for the first time how George E. Mueller, the system manager of the human spaceflight program of the 1960s, applied the SPO methodology and other special considerations such as all-uptesting, resulting in the success of the Apollo Program. Wernher von Braun and others did not readily accept such testing or Mueller\'s approach to system management, but later acknowledged that without them NASA would not have landed astronauts on the Moon by 1969. While Apollo remained Mueller\'s priority, from his earliest days at the agency, he promoted a robust post-Apollo Program which resulted in Skylab, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. As a result of these efforts, Mueller earned the sobriquet: the father of the space shuttle. Following his success at NASA, Mueller returned to industry. Although he did not play a leading role in human spaceflight again, in 2011 the National Air and Space Museum awarded him their lifetime achievement trophy for his contributions.Following the contributions of George E. Mueller, in this unique book Arthur L. Slotkin answers such questions as: exactly how did the methods developed for use in the Air Force ballistic missile programs get modified and used in the Apollo Program? How did George E. Mueller, with the help of others, manage the Apollo Program? How did NASA centers, coming from federal agencies with cultures of their own, adapt to the new structured approach imposed from Washington?George E. Mueller is the ideal central character for this book. He was instrumental in the creation of Apollo extension systems leading to Apollo, the Shuttle, and today\'s ISS and thus was a pivotal figure in early American human spaceflight history. Creating spacesuits is an ongoing challenge that has spanned over four decades. This book details the evolution of U. S. spacesuits from their roots in high altitude aviation and vacuum tube development to the present day, with a glimpse into the future. In Energiya-Buran: the Soviet Space Shuttle, the authors describe the long development path of the Soviet space shuttle system, consisting of the Energiya rocket and the Buran orbiter. The program eventually saw just one unmanned flight in November 1988 before the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union sealed its fate.After a Foreword provided by lead Buran test pilot Igor Volk, the authors look at the experience gradually accumulated in high-speed aeronautics with the development of various Soviet rocket planes and intercontinental cruise missiles between the 1930s to 1950s and the study of several small spaceplanes in the 1960s. Next the authors explain how the perceived military threat of the US Space Shuttle led to the decision in February 1976 to build a Soviet equivalent, and explore the evolution of the design until it was frozen in 1979. Following this is a detailed technical description of both Energiya and Buran and a look at nominal flight scenarios and emergency situations, highlighting similarities and differences with the US Space Shuttle.The authors then expand on the managerial aspects of the Energiya-Buran program, sum up the main design bureaus and production facilities involved in the project and describe the infrastructure needed to transport the hardware and prepare it for launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome. They go on to detail the selection and training of teams of civilian and military test pilots for Buran, crew assignments for the first manned missions and preparatory flights aboard Soyuz spacecraft.Next the focus turns to the extensive test program that preceded the first flight of Buran, notably the often trouble-plagued test firings of rocket engines, the first flight of Energiya with the enigmatic Polyus payload, test flights of subscale models and atmospheric approach and landing tests. After an analysis of Western speculation on the Soviet space shuttle effort in the pre-glasnost era, a detailed account is given of final preparations for the maiden flight of Buran and the mission itself.In the final chapters the authors look at the gradual demise of the project in the early 1990s, the fate of the Soviet orbiters and their cosmodrome infrastructure, cancelled missions, and the many planned derivatives of the Energiya rocket. Attention is also paid to technological spin-offs such as the Zenit and Sea Launch projects and the RD-180 and RD-191 rocket engines. Finally, an overview is given of alternative spaceplane proposals during and after the Buran era, including the MAKS air-launched spaceplane, the Kliper spacecraft and various single-stage-to-orbit systems.The book closes off with key specifications of the Energiya-Buran system, short biographies of the Buran pilots, an extensive list of Russian acronyms, a short bibliographical essay and a detailed index. Based largely on Russian sources, it is richly illustrated with some 250 pictures and diagrams.Although Energiya-Buran was primarily a program of unfulfilled promises and shattered dreams, it represented a major technological breakthrough for the Soviet Union and its story deserves to be told. The technological marvel that facilitated the Apollo missions to the Moon was the on-board computer. In the 1960s most computers filled an entire room, but the spacecraft\'s computer was required to be compact and low power. Although people today find it difficult to accept that it was possible to control a spacecraft using such a \'primitive\' computer, it nevertheless had capabilities that are advanced even by today\'s standards.This is the first book to fully describe the Apollo guidance computer\'s architecture, instruction format and programs used by the astronauts. As a comprehensive account, it will span the disciplines of computer science, electrical and aerospace engineering. However, it will also be accessible to the \'space enthusiast\'. In short, the intention is for this to be the definitive account of the Apollo guidance computer.Frank O\'Brien\'s interest in the Apollo program began as a serious amateur historian. About 12 years ago, he began performing research and writing essays for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, and the Apollo Flight Journal. Much of this work centered on his primary interests, the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) and the Lunar Module. These Journals are generally considered the canonical online reference on the flights to the Moon. He was then asked to assist the curatorial staff in the creation of the Cradle of Aviation Museum, on Long Island, New York, where he helped prepare the Lunar Module simulator, a LM procedure trainer and an Apollo space suit for display. He regularly lectures on the Apollo computer and related topics to diverse groups, from NASA\'s computer engineering conferences, the IEEE/ACM, computer festivals and university student groups.